Human Rights Watch: Prestigious Journalism Award

(New York) – Human Rights Watch multimedia features on Russia and Papua New Guinea have won prestigious awards in the field of broadcast journalism, a rare honor for a nongovernmental organization.

The Peabody Awards aim to recognize “the best of the best” in broadcast, which this year included the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera English, and National Public Radio. Human Rights Watch was the only nongovernmental organization to receive a Peabody.

The Russia feature, “Acting Up,” profiled a series of civil society activists with text, video, and portraits by The New Yorker staff photographer Platon. It was published by The New Yorker in the United States, and by newspapers, magazines, and websites in 20 other countries worldwide.

The Papua New Guinea feature, “Gold’s Costly Dividend,” accompanied a Human Rights Watch report on abuses against people living near the Porgera gold mine. Photographs and video by Brent Stirton illustrated the environmental conditions around the mine, with interviews of victims of violence perpetrated by mine security guards.

“For an organization like Human Rights Watch to be recognized among the best of the best in broadcast journalism is a huge honor,” said Carroll Bogert, deputy executive director of Human Rights Watch. “It’s also a reflection of how much the media business has changed. Human Rights Watch is a player now in the global information marketplace, alongside even the world’s top media organizations.”

The Peabody Awards, granted annually since 1941 “to recognize the most outstanding achievements in electronic media,” are administered by the University of Georgia in the United States.